


The Time Magnus and Alec Had To Explain Immortality

by heartsdesire456



Series: Max Two 'Verse [9]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Angst, Family Feels, Immortality, Lighter Ending, M/M, Upset Children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 05:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7561786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Magnus's dear friend Ragnor mentions Magnus's immortality without realizing that Max and Rafael don't know about immortality yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time Magnus and Alec Had To Explain Immortality

**Author's Note:**

> **EDIT: THAT MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH TAG WAS AN ACCIDENT AND THIS AN MAKES THAT ALL SO MUCH WORSE I AM SO SORRY YOU GUYS OMG!**
> 
> Oh yeah. I went there.
> 
> It hurts just as much as you imagine it.
> 
> I cried a lot writing this.

After all the good meeting Catarina did for Max feeling bad about his blue skin, Magnus got the idea that he would invite his oldest and dearest friend, Ragnor, to come visit. He had horns, as Max did, and he thought maybe meeting someone else with horns would help Max feel a little less self-conscious about those as well. Alec was eager to meet Magnus’s oldest friend, because he didn’t know much about Magnus’s downworlder friends other than Raphael. Most of them didn’t really like that Magnus had married him, so Alec never really asked about people.

Max, having just turned six years old, was really excited by Ragnor’s magic. Ragnor was not as flashy as Magnus, he was more straightforward, and Max had only ever seen Magnus doing magic. Ragnor didn’t do all the hand waves and finger snaps and graceful twirls. Ragnor was also quite the grump. Alec secretly really liked his attitude, no matter how much it annoyed Magnus. 

“I’m just saying, this is the best one of your homes has ever looked before,” Ragnor said, looking around the neat and tidy living room. “Your husband has clearly taken over the domestic duties.”

Alec grinned. “Yeah, Magnus is a slob,” he said with an affectionate nudge to Magnus’s elbow. “He wouldn’t pick up anything if I didn’t do it for him,” he said and Magnus rolled his eyes.

“It’s only dirty if it’s something gross. Like dishes or mud. Books lying around isn’t _dirty_ , it’s _eccentric_ ,” Magnus argued for the thousandth time.

Max giggled. “Dad makes us clean our rooms and Papa is the one who complains the most about having to clean up his and Dad’s room.”

Magnus huffed. “That’s because your father made that damn ‘no magic’ rule.” Alec glared and nodded at the boys and Magnus rolled his eyes. “Darn, I mean. Darn.”

“But Papa, it’s just fair,” Rafael said with a serious look. “Me and Dad can’t do magic, so it’s not fair if you and Max don’t gotta clean up just like us.”

Ragnor looked over at Magnus with a shit-eating grin. “Yes, ‘Papa’,” he mocked. “It’s only fair.” He shook his head with a fond sigh. “Oh if I had known you would one day get married and have children, my friend.”

Magnus smiled brightly, the one Alec knew was entirely involuntary, and curled his hand around Alec’s, smiling at the boys. “I honestly have never been happier. The past year has been the best of my life,” he said, and Alec’s chest positively ached at how much he loved Magnus when he got sappy.

Ragnor chuckled. “I’m glad, because you’ve had such a terrible disposition for ages. I haven’t seen you this happy in well over a hundred years.”

Alec didn’t even register that Ragnor said anything wrong until Magnus tensed at his side just before Max’s voice rang out. “Wait, _what_?” Alec’s blood ran cold and he looked over at the boys. 

Ragnor nodded gravely. “Oh yes, I’m sad to say your father was quite miserable for years at a time ever since the late eighteen hundreds-“

“Ragnor,” Magnus snapped, shaking his head quickly.

“Papa, what does he mean?” Rafael asked, and Alec’s breath left him as he realized that this was actually happening.

Ragnor, however, looked confused. “What am I missing?” He looked between Magnus and the children and his eyes grew wide. “Do they not _know_? Max is a warlock himself,so I just assumed-“ He stopped, grimacing. “Oh my friend, I am so sorry,” he said earnestly to Magnus and then to Alec. “I genuinely just assumed, being that one of them is a warlock, they understood. I apologize so profoundly.”

Alec shook his head, closing his eyes. “It’s not your fault.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Magnus,” he said and Magnus squeezed his hand tightly.

Magnus looked at Ragnor with a sad smile. “My dearest cactus, I have loved having you visit, but perhaps we should call it a day. Maybe you can come visit some other time? I think I need to have a talk with my family,” he said and Ragnor nodded slowly, looking thoroughly guilty for his misstep. 

Alec looked at the boys. “Guys, let’s let Papa see his friend off, okay?” He stood and led the boys out of the room.

~

Magnus’s heart was breaking even before he walked into his and Alec’s bedroom. He had wanted to hold off on the immortality discussion until both boys were older. He wanted to have time to prepare and to make sure they were mature enough to understand the situation fully. He wanted to put off the pain that came with knowing what it meant to be immortal.

Max was only six years old, and he was about to learn the hardest part of being what he was born.

When Magnus walked in, Alec was sitting on the bed with both boys asking him questions. Magnus fixed on a smile and walked over. “Alright, I’m here,” he said, crawling up the bed to sit on his knees in the empty space left in their little square.

“Papa, how old are you?” Max asked, jumping right into the conversation.

Magnus took a calming breath before answering. “I’m not actually sure,” he admitted. “Over four hundred years old is all I know.”

Max and Raphael’s eyes widened dramatically. Alec knew all of this, because he and Magnus had talked at length in their first year together about Magnus’s life. “But… Daddy, how old are you?” Max asked Alec quickly.

“I’m twenty-eight,” he said and Max and Rafael looked at each other with even more confused expressions.

“What about Granddad? Isn’t he older than Papa?” Rafael asked and Alec shook his head.

“He’s forty-eight,” Alec answered. He looked over at Magnus. “Guys, there’s something we want you guys to know. It’s… it’s not the easiest thing to think about,” he said, and Magnus wanted to laugh at the understatement. 

Magnus cleared his throat. “You know how warlocks like me and Max are… different. Than you guys. We’re Downworlders,” he said to Rafael. “You and Dad are Nephilim.”

“But I thought vampires were Downworlders?” Rafael asked, and Alec nodded.

“They are. Shadowhunters,” he paused. “Well, I’m a Shadowhunter, but you’re not. At least not yet,” he said, and Magnus’s stomach twisted at the thought. That was a whole other conversation for the future. “Shadowhunters are Nephilim who protect Mundanes from demons and from Downworlders who do bad things,” he said, highly simplifying the whole situation, which Magnus was grateful for. He did not want to have to explain anti-Downworlder sentiment to a six and eight year old. “Downworlders are people who aren’t Mundane but aren’t Nephilim either. Vampires, werewolves, and warlocks are the most common ones we see around here. And some of the Seelies live here, but you guys haven’t ever met any of them,” he added.

“We’re all different,” Magnus clarified. “Werewolves and Nephilim are like Mundanes more than the others. The best way to explain it is that Nephilim have Angel blood. You know, Raziel,” he said and they both nodded. “Nephilim are part Mundane and part Angel. Werewolves can be Mundanes or Nephilim or even a few others who are bitten by another werewolf. It’s like a virus, sort of.”

Alec nodded. “Vampires are… dead,” he said, grimacing. “Vampires are mundanes who were killed by other vampires and the come alive again as vampires. Because they’re dead, vampires don’t age. They don’t get sick, really. They don’t… die. Unless somebody kills them. Vampires and werewolves both have a disease, sort of, that’s demonic. Only werewolves are alive like us and vampires’ bodies aren’t alive in the same way.”

Magnus could already see how thoroughly freaked out the kids were and knew they were probably scarring their kids for life. It was the worst feeling. And it was about to get worse. “But warlocks are different, too.” He looked at Max’s wide, confused eyes. “We’re alive, so we aren’t like vampires. But we have some things in common with them. We grow up until we reach an age, it’s different for every warlock, and then we never get older. We, like the vampires, will live forever until something kills us.” He closed his eyes as he saw the shock and horror on Max and Raphael’s faces. “We’re like this because, unlike vampires and werewolves, that have demon diseases, we are part demon.” He felt a hand touch his and knew instantly it was Alec. He squeezed his hand, swallowing around the lump in his throat as his eyes prickled behind his lids. He opened his eyes with a small gasp as a tear broke free. “The same demons that Shadowhunters kill, we are born from those and Mundane women.”

He didn’t want to go into ‘demon rape’ or ‘can’t make babies’ with a six and eight year old he was pretty sure didn’t know where babies came from yet, so in order to avoid that part, he quickly added, “The demon in us is what makes us have magic and have our warlock marks, but it’s also why we live forever.”

“But… but what happens when everybody else gets old?” Max asked, looking so confused, and so scared, and it hurt Magnus more than anything that he had to do this to Max as such a young age.

Magnus reached out and stroked his curls gently. “You will grow up to appear to be the same age as I am, thereabouts, and then stop growing any older. You and I will stay young.”

Max looked at Alec then back at Magnus. “But what about Dad?”

Alec squeezed the hand he was holding when Magnus’s other hand trembled in Max’s hair. “I’m gonna get old one day, Max. I’ll keep getting older until I die. Hopefully, that will be a very long time from now,” he stressed. “But one day, both Rafael and I will grow old and die,” he said gently. “That’s just how life is. People grow old and, when they’ve lived as long as they’re supposed to live, they die. It’s the natural way. Everybody and everything has a time. You’ve learned about this before.”

Max nodded, looking down, but when Magnus tipped his chin up, Max’s eyes were full of tears. “But- but not me?”

Magnus tried his hardest not to cry, he really did, but as he shook his head, a whimper escaped his control. “No, Baby, not you,” he squeaked.

Max looked at his brother suddenly, reaching out for his hand. “Rafi’s gonna get old and die but I won’t?!” he asked in a horrified tone. Rafael looked equally as stunned, but Max turned around, tears spilling down his cheeks. “No!” 

Magnus nodded at him, just as many tears on his face as there were on Max’s. “You and I will still be around long after Dad and Rafael are gone, Maxi. That’s- that’s how being a warlock works. I’ve never had a family before you guys, but other warlocks I have known have and it’s just what happens,” he tried to explain, but Max just started crying.

“But I don’t want Rafael to get old and die if I don’t do it, too!”

Magnus scooped Max into his arms, even if he was getting too big to hold, and pressed his face into Max’s hair. “I know, Baby. I know. I don’t either,” he rocked Max, comforting himself just as much as Max, because though he wasn’t sobbing like Max was, his shoulders shook with silent heaves just as bad as Max did. He lifted his head and saw Rafael was crying quietly while Alec held him against his side, and much to Magnus’s surprise and utter heartbreak, Alec’s cheeks were stained with silent tears as well.

Magnus had never seen Alec cry from despair before, only a few manly tears held behind his lashes very rarely over something sad on a movie or something very happy like at their wedding, and he honestly wasn’t prepared for how much it hurt to see now.

~

It was late by the time they finally got the boys to bed – together, because Max refused to let go of his big brother for anything – and Magnus was more emotionally drained than he could ever remember being. Alec was standing at the window in the living room, just staring out at the skyline in silence, when Magnus entered the living room. He shuffled over to Alec and curled his arms around Alec’s middle, letting his forehead fall between Alec’s shoulders.

Alec turned in his arms and Magnus relaxed immediately when Alec held him. “That was so much harder than I ever imagined it would be,” Alec whispered and Magnus nodded silently. “I had planned on that happening a while from now, though, so there’s that.”

“No six year old child should have to learn that almost everybody he loves is going to die for the rest of his life,” Magnus said hoarsely. He whimpered. “I have always actively avoided facing the fact that I’m going to outlive one of my children, Alec. The one thing no parent should ever have to do, I _know_ I am going to do. I made my peace with outliving you when I decided I wanted to be with you more than I feared losing another mortal, but _Rafael_ is going to grow old and die and I’ll still be just like this. I try so hard not to ever think about that, and today I had to tell our baby that his big brother is going to get old and die and he won’t.”

Alec shuddered, hugging Magnus tighter. “I can’t blame Max for freaking out. I’m an adult, and the thought that any day my brother or sister might die is the worst. Every patrol, I know they might not come back, and it kills me. I just hope Max isn’t traumatized from this shocking news at such a young age.” Alec pulled back some, cupping Magnus’s face in one hand. “I know you don’t like thinking about it, but as sad as I am for you both, I have to admit, I find it comforting that Max will still have you,” he confessed and Magnus smiled sadly.

“Yeah, I know I would’ve probably been way less terrified of my immortality the first cycle of ‘everybody is dying but me’ if I had another warlock around to keep me grounded.” Magnus held Alec’s gaze. “I promise, I’ll take care of our baby even after you’re gone, Alexander. I will always be there for him as long as we both live.” His face crumpled. “Without you and Rafael,” he added, and Alec pulled him into a hug as he cried once again.

Alec kissed his forehead and then tipped his chin up, pressing their foreheads together. “You know what, though?” he said, forcing Magnus to look at him. He smiled and shook his head. “We’ve still got a really long time together, okay? Our family has so much longer left, Magnus. I know it’s hard either way, but you’ve got decades left with me and even more left with our son. You and I do a really good job not focusing on the future every day. Today doesn’t have to be any different.” He stroked Magnus’s side. “Everybody’s time is limited. Even immortals have limited time, because eventually, it will end, one way or another.” He shook his head. “Nothing is wrong with having limited time. It’s how life works. But you know what has no limits?” Magnus raised an eyebrow and Alec smiled gently. “How much love we can have. This family has more love than any family I’ve ever known. Our life together in the present is as close to perfect as life can ever be.” Alec leaned in, pressing a kiss to the corner of Magnus’s lips. “The amount of love I have for you has no limits.” 

Magnus smiled when Alec met his lips for a quick peck. “It doesn’t, huh?” he asked, and Alec shook his head. Magnus slid his hands up to Alec’s shoulders, looking up at him more openly. Alec gently wiped the lingering tears from his face, making his chest tighten at how very, very clear the truth of Alec’s claim was present in every touch. Magnus exhaled and tried to release some of the tension he was holding. “I know, Alexander. I know this isn’t news. I know this is all just… how it goes.” He smiled sadly. “Today was just very hard. Max having to learn all of this was so hard to stomach.” He slid a hand up into Alec’s hair, some of the joy finally returning to his eyes. “You’re right, though.” He grinned. “I’ve never been loved the way you and our family loves me. It’s all worth the inevitable pain and grief, because this?” He tugged Alec flush, bodies pressed together. “This feeling, being with you, it’s different from any other lover I ever had. Nobody was ever my husband. Nobody loved me so entirely the way you do.”

Alec smiled, hands curling around Magnus’s hips. “I got really lucky with the first man I ever dated,” he joked. “Didn’t have to shop around. Met the perfect man right from the get-go.”

“Perfect, huh?” Magnus flirted and Alec nodded.

“Beautiful, smart, loved my kid, ended up having another kid with him,” he said in an offhanded manner. “Married him, that’s always a plus.”

Magnus smiled, nodding. “Oh yes, always,” he teased.

Alec gathered him closer. “Great body,” he said in a lower voice, hands sliding around to Magnus’s back. Magnus’s breath hitched some as Alec slid one hand under his shirt. “Incredible in bed,” Alec said in a tone that made Magnus’s toes and fingers tingle pleasantly. Alec moved his lips to Magnus’s neck, just behind his ear. “Most amazing lover I ever had,” he joked and Magnus laughed breathily as Alec’s mouth moved down his throat.

“Only lover,” Magnus added and Alec nipped lightly in retaliation, making Magnus gasp in pleasure.

“Seems to really not want me to take this where it’s headed,” he said in a mock-annoyed tone, soothing the spot he nipped with his tongue. “Maybe he’s not so smart after all.”

Magnus’s fingers flexed on Alec’s arm. “Definitely want to take this where it’s headed, as long as where it’s headed is the bedroom.”

Alec nodded, bangs tickling Magnus’s hair. “Yep. Gotta show him what he’s still got several decades of left to enjoy.”

Magnus grinned, tugging at Alec’s shirt sleeves slightly. “Now _that_ is a definite mood lifted, I must say,” he said very buoyantly, making Alec finally crack and snicker against his skin.

Even after breaking the mood, Alec still took Magnus to bed, so Alec still considered it a success at cheering Magnus up after one of the hardest days either of them had ever had since they started their life together. One thing they both knew was that Max and Rafael were resilient. It hurt them, it scared them, but they both had faith that their boys would bounce back from such disturbing news. Even if it changed their outlook on life, they would still both recover and thrive, no matter how different their futures were.


End file.
